London - Britain and the
Commonwealth of its former colonies are makinglittle progress in efforts to
force Zimbabwe to stop the violent invasionsof white-owned farms, Britain's
top aid official said on Wednesday.

"We've worked hard, but completely
without success, to try to prevent thecontinuing deterioration in economic
and political governance in Zimbabwe,"International Development Secretary
Clare Short told the House of Commons.

She said Zimbabwe officials had
agreed at a September 5 meeting ofCommonwealth officials to restore the rule
of law and act against violence.

"Unfortunately there has been no
progress," Short said.

"The presidential elections are due and its very
important that everyone inthe world mobilises to try to ensure the people of
Zimbabwe are given thechance to have a free and fair election and to change
their government ifnecessary," Short said.

Zimbabwe has been wracked
by unrest over the government's plan to seizefarms owned by whites and give
the land to blacks. Ruling party militantshave occupied 1 700 white-owned
farms since March 2000 and nine whitefarmers have died in violence since
June. – Sapa/AP

Bid to rescue land deal in ZimbabweBy Angus Shaw
in Harare26 October 2001Cmmonwealth mediators began two days of talks in
Harare hoping to salvagelast month's deal to end the violent seizures of
white-owned farms andpolitical violence in Zimbabwe.

Officials from
Britain and the Commonwealth planned to raise concerns overthe Zimbabwean
government's failure to curb violence since it signed anagreement calling
for an immediate halt to illegal land occupations and theimplementation of a
workable land program. The deal, agreed on 6 Septemberin Abuja, Nigeria,
called for a transparent and democratic programconsistent with the rule of
law and observing human rights.

Zimbabwe's farming districts have been
convulsed by chaos during the past 18months, when members of President
Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party began oftenviolent occupations of 1,700
white-owned farms, demanding they beredistributed to the black majority. The
government has since embarked on aplan to seize 5,000 farms – nearly all the
farms owned by whites – withoutpaying compensation, demanding payment from
Britain. Britain and otherdonors have said they will only provide aid for
land redistribution afterlaw and order is restored.

Opening the talks
in Harare, Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister, Stan Mudenge,disputed reports by
white farmers that violence has continuedand newoccupiers have settled in at
least 688 properties since 6 September. Thegroup led by the Nigerian
Foreign, Minister Sule Lamido, and Don McKinnon,the Commonwealth secretary
general will tour farming districts today.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Office
minister Baroness Amos met with Mr Mugabe in ameeting diplomats described as
"predictable". There were differences overthe interpretation of the Abuja
deal, though Mr Mugabe did agree to allowthe Commonwealth mediators to meet
civic and human rights groups. (AP)

He issued the warning at the start of an official
visit by a team ofCommonwealth ministers and officials which is following up
on progress madesince the deal was clinched in Abuja, Nigeria on September
6.

The accord, which called for an end to violence on farms in return
forfinancial aid from Britain, also urged Zimbabwe's international partners
to"respond positively" to any request from Harare to support the
electoralprocess.

"The heresy comes when people are tempted to
pervert the principle and useit for bartering, demanding and threatening,"
Mudenge said.

"Some are suggesting a complicated system of extortion and
bribes using anexotic rendering of the conclusion on electoral support as
currency, and asthreats of all manner of unspecified measures as the
bludgeon forproselytising Zimbabwe," Mudenge told visitors at the start of
talks.

President Robert Mugabe's government is forging ahead with a plan
to turnover farmland owned mainly by the country's small white minority to
landlessblacks, a scheme which has been accompanied by farm invasions and
bloodshedsince early last year.

Mudenge's remarks came two days after
he returned from Belgium where theEuropean Union issued an ultimatum to
Zimbabwe to accept EU observers intothe country to witness presidential
elections next year or face as yetunspecified sanctions under the Cotonou
agreement between the EU and the ACPnations.

Mudenge said such attempts by the EU to force
its way into Zimbabwe were afutile attempt.

"It breeds suspicion and
tempts others to ascribe sinister motives. Itdestabilises friendship and
diminishes all of us. It is downright wrong andmust be condemned by all of
us," he said, while referring to all countriesrepresented by the visitors as
"friends of Zimbabwe".

Ministers and top officials from seven countries -
Australia, Britain,Canada, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa - are
participating in themission.

He announced that a UN Development
Programme technical team due to decide onthe procedure for implementation of
the Abuja land deal is expected in thecountry on Monday.

Commenting
on the visit, Nigerian Foreign Minister Sule Lamido said: "Wecame to see how
far Zimbabwe has gone in putting in place programmes andother actions which
will build confidence in this very delicate process". -Sapa/AFP

Harare - Veteran
Zimbabwean human rights activist Judith Todd, 57, wasThursday taken away
from her home in the western city of Bulawayo by plainclothes security men,
family friends reported.

Her whereabouts were not certain, but friends
thought the action wasconnected to two previous visits by police who had
questioned her about heractivities as a director of Associated Newspapers
Zimbabwe (ANZ).

Earlier this year its presses were blown up in a
military-style sabotageoperation, the day after Information Minister
Jonathan Moyo vowed to silencethe opposition's principal channel of
communication with the public.

Muchadeyi Masunda, chief executive of ANZ,
said Todd was threatened withprosecution for perjury during previous
questioning, over allegations shemade in an affidavit oppositing an attempt
by Matumwa Mawere, apro-government business mogul, to expand his two percent
shareholding inANZ.

Masunda said two other directors and shareholders
had also been questionedabout their opposition to Mawere's financial
moves.

Masunda said he himself intended to report to Harare's central
policestation to answer questions he understood fraud squad detectives
planned topose.

Todd, daughter of former Rhodesian prime minister
Garfield Todd, 92, was afierce critic of the last white government under Ian
Smith and after 1980independence helped rehabilitate demobilised
ex-guerrillas through her"Zimbabwe Project" charity.

She has
condemned corruption and misgovernance under President RobertMugabe's rule
but has taken a low key role in national politics. - Sapa/DPA

ANGRY South Africans walked out of a
meeting intended to ease tensionsbetween them and their Zimbabwean
neighbours at the Zandspruit informalsettlement, west of Johannesburg,
yesterday.

The meeting, attended by representatives of the SA Human
Rights Commission,Zandspruit community, the Zimbabwean consulate and the
police, had to bemoved from the Cross Media Centre in Honeydew to the local
police stationafter locals refused to co-operate with
organisers.

Yesterday's meeting follows violence earlier this week which
left about 76shacks belonging to Zimbabweans burnt. Locals torched the
shacks afteraccusing the Zimbabweans of bringing crime into the
area.

The meeting continued at the Honeydew police station without the
locals, whoclaimed that only five representatives from their side were
allowed in themeeting while all the Zimbabweans attended the
gathering.

Police said no incidents were reported yesterday, but concern
was growingthat the locals's defiance could start a new wave.

Locals
have vowed to prevent the Zimbabweans from returning to Zandspruit.The
Zimbabweans say they have nowhere else to go.

The Trans Limpopo Spatial Development Initiative
(SDI) deal signed betweenSouth Africa's Northern Province and the Zimbabwean
provinces ofMatabeleland North and South faces a new threat from the
impendingdeportation of Zimbabwean farm workers.

The agreement,
signed in March this year, seeks to foster cooperation in theareas of
tourism, mining, wildlife conservation, disease control andagriculture
between the two countries.

Officials in Zimbabwe said on Wednesday that
there was a "real threat" tothe agreement as South Africa readies to deport
over 10 000 Zimbabwean farmworkers working on Northern Province
farms.

"We have been in touch with our South African counterparts and we
all agreedthat we need an urgent review and see where we can come in to save
theagreement," said Matabeleland South provincial administrator, John
Ncube.

Although South African farmers have won a temporary reprieve in
the SouthAfrican courts to keep the workers on the farms, thousands of
Zimbabweanshave already crossed back into the country fearing violent
arrests anddeportations.

Rampaging mobs of South Africans have been
carrying out evictions andintermittent raids on Zimbabweans in Zandspruit,
west of Johannesburg, whichthreatens to freeze diplomatic relations between
the two countries.

"Naturally, we are concerned about the developments in
South Africa andanxiously wait to see what it does to the diplomatic
relations of our twocountries.

But the Trans Limpopo SDI certainly
has to work and we remain firmlycommitted," said Ncube.

In areas on
the Zimbabwean side along the 260km border stretch between thetwo countries,
which touches the Northern Province, former workers fleeingSouth African
farms have set up camps with a determination to return whenthings
improve.

The European Union is moving closer to
applying sanctions against Zimbabweover its human rights record and its
failure to halt seizures of white-ownedfarms.

At a meeting in
Luxembourg next Monday, the EU's 15 foreign ministers arelikely to take
appropriate measures as outlined in the Cotonou Agreementbetween the Union
and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, EU diplomatssaid
today.

The measures refer to the EU's right under the accord to
demandconsultations with any signatory state which it considers to have
failed torespect human rights, democratic principles and the rule of
law.

Failure to rectify the alleged rights abuses would trigger a
reduction orredirecting of EU economic aid to the country, the diplomats
said.

Zimbabwe this week rejected an EU request that it respond by next
week toits offer to send observers to monitor presidential elections next
April,saying it would not answer an ultimatum.

EU diplomats said they
felt Mr Mugabe, in power since 1980, had so farfailed to honour the
Nigerian-brokered deal

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has told
Commonwealthministers that he is committed to a Nigerian-brokered deal to
end violentinvasions of white-owned farms by pro-Mugabe militants, diplomats
have said.

But the Zimbabwean leader also warned Western governments
on Thursday thatthey had to do their part in ending a 20-month-old land
crisis in thesouthern African country.

Commonwealth ministers
arrived in Zimbabwe on Thursday to set a timetablefor Harare to comply with
the agreement reached in the Nigerian capitalAbuja last
month.

"He (Mugabe) gave us a long lecture on Zimbabwe's history and
the backgroundto the land crisis," a Western diplomat said after the
90-minute meetingwith Mugabe.

"He said Zimbabwe was committed to
the Abuja agreement, but he questionedwhether some of the Western powers
were committed (to the deal)," said thediplomat, who declined to be
named.

Commonwealth and government officials have declined to comment
on the talkswith Mugabe.

The meeting in Harare came as the
European Union moved closer on Thursday toapplying sanctions against
Zimbabwe over its human rights record and itsfailure to end the land
chaos.

Diplomats in Brussels said the EU's 15 foreign ministers were
expected nextweek to demand consultations with Zimbabwe over alleged human
rights abuses,which could lead to a "reduction or redirecting" of EU aid to
the country.

On Tuesday, Zimbabwe rejected an EU request that it
respond by next week toits offer to send observers to monitor presidential
elections due by nextApril.

ESCALATION ON
FARMS

Zimbabwe has rejected charges that state-backed invasions of
white-ownedfarms have escalated since the Abuja accord was reached on
September 6.

Under the pact, the government agreed to stop landless
blacks taking overwhite-owned farms, and Britain pledged to help fund a fair
and just landreform programme.

"When we tried to raise issues of
rule of law and the implementation of theagreement, he (Mugabe) said they
should raise it at the ministerial level,"the diplomat said.

The
delegation will meet with government ministers, white farmers and
otherinterest groups during their two-day visit.

Zimbabwe's
traditional chiefs blamed the chaos in the countryside on whitefarmers
refusing to support land reform.

"We told them (the Commonwealth
group) that it is very difficult for thegovernment to implement the rule of
law in a situation of so much landinjustice," said Chief Jonathan Mangwende,
president of the Chiefs Council.

Nine white farmers have been killed
and scores of black farm workersassaulted since pro-government militants
began occupying white-owned farmsin February last year.

The
militants say they are supporting Mugabe's programme to seize overtwo-thirds
of the 12 million hectares of white-owned farmland forredistribution to
landless blacks.

The mainly white Commercial Farmers Union (CFU),
grouping 4,500 farmers,said last Friday the land crisis had escalated, with
settlers occupyingabout 700 more farms.

It said the output of key
crops, such as tobacco, wheat and maize, couldfall by 40 percent next
year.

Harare - A top Zimbabwean industrialist on Wednesday said the
government'slatest economic stance touted as an alternative to market
reforms was adisaster.

Zed Rusike, the immediate past president of
the Confederation of ZimbabweIndustries (CZI) and a member of the national
council of the CZI said: "Thegovernment has said 'we the ruling party want
to stay in power'. We willtake all measures necessary for us to stay in
power."

Rusike told a business seminar that the ruling Zanu-PF has run
out of ideasand might not be able to pull the economy out of the current
mess.

"To suggest that we do away with market reforms because we have no
freshideas is tantamount to throwing away the baby with the bathwater. We
seem towant to reinvent the wheel. Socialism failed in terms of economic
policy.Sooner or later we will have to revise our ideas. Markets are ideal
forresource allocation."

Recently the government re-introduced price
controls on basic commoditiesand announced a return to a command, socialist
economy. The controls haveled to widespread shortages of bread, soap and
other basics.

For example, the government decreed that bread be sold at
$44 (R6.60) a loafwhen it costs $54 (R8.10) to make. Bakers are refusing to
continuing makingand selling the bread.

CZI will never agree to price
controls

Rusike dismissed government attacks on hoarding of goods whose
price hasbeen curbed, saying under current circumstances it was the sensible
thing todo.

"If I was a producer of products such as bread, cooking
oil and sugar, Iwould keep my product in the warehouse until I could sell it
at a profit. Iwould not sell at below cost. It doesn't make sense to do so,"
he said.

Rusike made the remarks at a CZI seminar sponsored by the
Friedrich EbertFoundation on price controls.

He said: "The CZI has
never agreed to and will never agree to pricecontrols. We believe that they
are a short-term measure. Hopefully sooner orlater sanity will prevail.
Unfortunately it has not prevailed yet."

"In 1990, when we made the
decision to embrace market reforms, we knew itwas going to be hard, having
to forgo the system that we had becomeaccustomed to, which had been put in
place by the colonial regime. Littledid we know that 10 years down the road,
we would come face to face with thesame animal once more."

Rusike
lambasted President Robert Mugabe's call for a return to socialism."The
issue of price controls brings back the memory of the days ofsocialism, a
failed policy in terms of economic development of the world. Nonation is an
island and sooner or later we will have to revise our ideas infavour of
ideas that are universally shared across the world."

Meanwhile, the
chairperson of the Confederation of Tanzania Industries,Arnold Kilewo, said:
"The economics of socialism failed in terms of economicproduction. It had
good principles related to its philosophy of humandevelopment but in terms
of economic management a state controlled systemfailed. We have tested it
and we say you better not."

Private sector will continue to play an
important role

Under former president Julius Nyerere, Tanzania embraced
socialism and laterabandoned it.

Mugabe has warned that businesses
which resisted his economic plans such asprice controls would be
nationalised.

"If you look at what happened to my country I would say
don't try it. We areback to a private sector economy and we are registering
a lot of successes.We in Tanzania are looking forward to dynamic economic
development," saidKilewo.

The UNDP resident representative, Victor
Angelo, said that despite Mugabe'sassertions of a return to socialism, he
did not believe that the country wasnow abandoning private
enterprise.

"I don't think we are moving towards a command economy in
Zimbabwe. I thinkthe private sector has played and will continue to play an
important role inthis country.

"I think the private sector is still
the key engine of economic growth andjob creation in Zimbabwe and whatever
can be done to promote its growthshould be done" he said.

The Commonwealth Agreement, signed in the Nigerian capital Abuja on 6
September, was achieved to the surprise of nearly all the diplomats and
observers who had gathered there.

If anything the rhetoric between the two sides indicate that
many obstacles still remain

At a time when
it seemed that Harare and London were further apart on the land crisis in
Zimbabwe than ever before, a small yet crucial consensus seemed to have been
negotiated.

It was at the very least a point of departure, a road map, on how to end the
political and economic turmoil that had plunged Zimbabwe into a calamitous
state.

At its heart, the Abuja agreement was about everyone agreeing that there was
a genuine and pressing need for land reform in Zimbabwe.

Some 4,500 white commercial farmers own approximately 75% of the best arable
land, and tens of thousands of landless, poor black peasants eke out a living on
the remainder.

Historic break

The Abuja accord was clinched against all the odds.

The Commonwealth delegation wants to discuss rule of
law

What really made the difference was that, for the first
time, major African governments such as South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya openly
broke ranks with Harare.

They urged President Mugabe's government to end the political and economic
turmoil resulting from the land crisis which threatened the stability of the
whole continent.

For its part, Zimbabwe pledged to end further illegal occupations of
white-owned farm land, political intimidation and human rights abuses.

Britain also recognised that there was a need for fundamental land reform in
Zimbabwe and pledged to honour the commitment it made at Zimbabwe's independence
21 years ago to provide significant funds to help this process.

Friction

But if anything the rhetoric between the two sides indicate that many
obstacles still remain.

The Abuja deal was aimed at putting a stop to the
chronic violence

There has also been little sign of a decrease in
political violence.

On the eve of the arrival of the Commonwealth delegations, the state-owned
Herald newspaper said that the Zimbabwean government feared that Britain and
what it called its allies in the white Commonwealth were seeking to turn the
Abuja agreement on its head.

Similarly, Britain's Secretary of State for International Development Clare
Short told the British Parliament that London had worked hard to prevent the
continuing deterioration in political and economic governance in Zimbabwe, but
completely without success.

Since the Abuja agreement was signed, Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers Union,
which represents nearly all white farmers, said an additional 688 properties had
been occupied by government supporters.

Political violence

Aside from farm invasions, the leader of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) was attacked two weeks ago by a mob of suspected ruling
party supporters.

Morgan Tsvangirau escaped unhurt after his motorcade was attacked by
suspected Mugabe supporters with sticks, stones, machetes and spears.

CUT!!!!

President Mugabe is increasingly isolated
internationally

The MDC treated the attack as an assassination attempt.

The MDC has also threatened to boycott future by-elections because of
violence and intimidation at a bye-election in September.

Human rights groups in Zimbabwe said the run-up to voting in the rural seat
of Chikomba had been marred by murder and intimidation.

A coalition of rights groups alleged that one opposition supporter, a school
headmaster, had been murdered and several others tortured in the run-up to the
poll.

They also said that the leading opposition candidate had received death
threats.

HARARE (Reuters) - Commonwealth
ministers in Zimbabwe are trying to set atimetable for the government to
comply with a Nigerian-brokered plan to endviolent invasions of white-owned
farms by supporters of President RobertMugabe.

Mugabe's
government rejects charges that state-backed invasions ofwhite-owned farms
have escalated despite the deal it signed in Nigeria lastmonth pledging to
end the land crisis.

The Commonwealth team first met Mugabe, but
there was no word yet on theoutcome of that meeting.

The mission
was due to receive a briefing from Foreign Minister Stan Mudengebefore
meeting white farmers and other interest groups, a Zimbabwegovernment
official said on Thursday.

"There is a lot of propaganda flying
around, but we still hope that theCommonwealth delegation will keep an open
mind and be fair in itsassessment," the official told
Reuters.

Mugabe's government has mixed charm with belligerence ahead
of the visit. Ithas promised to cooperate with the Commonwealth team while
at the same timeattacking white farmers who have questioned its commitment
to the dealagreed in Abuja.

"I think the Commonwealth ministers
are going to hear all the right wordsfrom the government, but I don't see
how they will get the right action,"said Masipula Sithole, a leading
political analyst.

The others are Canada's Secretary of State for Latin
America and AfricaDavid Kilgour, and former Australian High Commissioner to
Zimbabwe JoeThwaites.

LOW-LEVEL MISSION?

Analysts said
the make-up of the Commonwealth mission, which is largelycomprised of junior
ministers, was not a concern.

"I don't think there is too much to
read into the composition of thedelegation because its mission is pretty
straightforward, and, I think,within its ability," said Brian Raftopoulos, a
political analyst at theZimbabwe Institute of Development
Studies.

Harare has unleashed a flurry of verbal attacks on white
farmers forallegedly pushing a propaganda campaign aimed at showing the
government wasfailing to implement the accord.

Under the deal,
the government agreed to stop militants from violentlyseizing white-owned
farms while Britain pledged to help finance a fair andjust reform
programme.

The mainly white Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) said last
Friday the landcrisis had escalated despite the accord with settlers
occupying about 700more farms.

It warned output of key crops,
such as tobacco, wheat and maize, could fallby 40 percent next
year.

On Thursday, the state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted
government sourcesas saying the CFU was attempting to undermine the Abuja
pact and hadprepared a report aimed at "smearing" the government.

With inflation now at more than 86
percent and threatening to fly evenhigher while money market rates still
remain low, investors won’t be able tomake any savings at all, say
stockbrokers.

The stockbrokers said with inflation at 86,3 percent
investors might as wellremove the word “investment from their
vocabularies”.

Inflation jumped 10,2 percent from 76,1 percent recorded
in August, and thiswas attributed to increases in prices of food, rentals,
rates and medicalcare among others.

In its weekly commentary, Sagit
Stockbrokers (Pvt) Ltd said this would leavethe money-market investors
stranded, with nowhere to run.

Sagit said: “Given the Treasury Bill
maturity profile, we would be surprisedif rates pick up. This can only mean
good news to the stock market, right?

Maybe, maybe not. We believe there
are two things that stock marketinvestors are still to come to grips
with.”

Sagit said investors were still to digest the implications of
there-introduction of price controls on companies, which, they believe,
“maynot be as adverse as initially thought on a good number of
counters”.

The stockbroking firm said the year 2002 National Budget was
anothermilestone.

DR STAN Mudenge, the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, this week said the Abujaagreement could be the
only remaining peaceful option to solve the landcrisis in the
country.

Mudenge told a Press conference that the accord, in which the
Britishgovernment has agreed to fund a legal and transparent land
redistributionapproach, had to work for the country to be saved.

He
did not say exactly what would happen, but only insinuated terribletragedy
would befall the country.

Describing the Abuja agreement as a delicate
key, which can break if toomuch pressure is exerted on it, the minister said
the media was largely toblame for dismissing the agreement when the
government was doing all it canto make sure it worked.

“If Abuja
fails, there won’t be any other initiative to help this country,”said
Mudenge. “This time it is about national interest, it’s not about ZanuPF.
Look at the US and how it is fighting Osama bin Laden with its
media.

“Britain must be pushed to see whether it will live up to its
promises.”He said he was aware of forces within the country and in Britain
that do notwant a peaceful solution to the land issue in
Zimbabwe.

“We want a peaceful option, so we must all try our best with
honesty anddetermination to make Abuja work and if it fails, we will have
clearconsciences telling us that at least we tried.”

“We never said
there will be no problems when we signed Abuja.“This is a socio-economic
issue which is not a water tap that can beswitched on and off.”

He
said the government has been taking the Abuja document to war veterans,the
people in general and all the stakeholders and was implementing
it.

Mudenge said a booklet on the accord is being prepared in English,
Shona andNdebele to see what people expect from it.

He was speaking
as key Commonwealth foreign ministers began arriving in thecountry for
two-day talks on the land issue.

The ministers are scheduled to meet
Mugabe on the thorny issue of land andhave an opportunity to visit the
farms, speak with the media, commercialfarmers and other interested parties
like civic groups and the opposition.

They were invited by Mudenge during
a Commonwealth foreign ministers'meeting in Abuja in September to discuss
the tense political situation inthe country.

The foreign ministers
from Britain, Australia, Canada, Jamaica, Kenya,Nigeria and South Africa
will meet today and tomorrow. CommonwealthSecretary-General Don McKinnon
will also attend the meeting.

The Abuja agreement commits Zimbabwe to end
the illegal farm occupations andto take action to stop political violence in
exchange for British financingof the land reform programme.

McKinnon
said the Commonwealth meeting “represents an important step
towardsimplementation of the Abuja agreement”.

JOHANNESBURG, 25 October (IRIN) - A Commonwealth mission
charged with monitoring September's Abuja agreement began a two-day visit to
Zimbabwe on Thursday. The visit came as farming organisations and civic groups
said that state-backed invasions of white-owned farms have escalated despite the
deal the government signed in Nigeria pledging to end the land crisis.

"We welcome the visit because it will show the world that things have
actually got worse since Abuja," Lovemore Madhuku, chair of the influential
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) told IRIN on Thursday. Analysts said the
ministerial mission would probably try to set a timetable for the government to
comply with the Abuja agreement that links British funding for an orderly and
legal land reform programme to government calling a halt to the violent seizure
of white-owned farms.

"One problem with Abuja was that it didn't say
when the chaos on occupied farms should cease, it's a loophole that Mugabe is
using to maintain the status quo," a Harare-based economist told IRIN. Nigerian
Foreign Minister Sule Lamido leads the mission, which includes Commonwealth
Secretary-General Don McKinnon, British Foreign Office Minister Baroness Valerie
Amos, Kenyan Deputy Foreign Minister Peter Odoyo and South African Labour
Minister Membathisi Mdladlana.

President Robert Mugabe's government has
been giving mixed signals about the visit. While it agreed to cooperate with the
Commonwealth team, an article in the state-controlled Herald newspaper on
Thursday attacked Britain for not implementing its side of the Abuja
deal.

Another Herald article criticised the European Union (EU) for
allegedly telling Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge earlier in the week that
Zimbabwe would face sanctions unless it accepted EU observers into the country
to witness presidential elections next year.

When opening talks with the
Commonwealth delegation Mudenge warned against such threats. "Some are
suggesting a complicated system of extortion and bribes using an exotic
rendering of the conclusion on electoral support as currency, and as threats of
all manner of unspecified measures as the bludgeon for proselytising Zimbabwe,"
he told the visiting ministers.

The government has also criticised white
farmers for mounting a "propaganda campaign" aimed at showing that the
government was failing to implement the accord. The mainly-white Commercial
Farmers Union (CFU) said last week that after surveying most commercial farms in
the country it had found that a further 700 had been occupied or disrupted since
Abuja.

The CFU warned that output of key crops, such as tobacco, wheat
and maize, could fall by 40 percent next year. "We're very concerned that
government will try and stage manage this Commonwealth visit. We have not been
approached to show the delegation farms that represent what is really going on,"
CFU spokeswoman Jenny Williams told IRIN.

After meetings with Mugabe and
Mudenge, the delegation spoke to stakeholders and representatives from civil
society. On Friday, the delegation was due to travel to the countryside by
helicopter to see the situation on the ground. Analysts said it was unlikely
that the visit would have much affect on Mugabe's controversial land reform
programme.

"If South Africa and the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) have failed to moderate his (Mugabe's) policies, its hard to
see how the Commonwealth can have an impact," economist Tony Hawkins told IRIN.
He predicted that the visit could lead to further international isolation for
Zimbabwe.

HARARE (Reuters) - Commonwealth
ministers in Zimbabwe are trying to set atimetable for the government to
comply with a Nigerian-brokered plan to endviolent invasions of white-owned
farms by supporters of President RobertMugabe.

Mugabe's
government rejects charges that state-backed invasions ofwhite-owned farms
have escalated despite the deal it signed in Nigeria lastmonth pledging to
end the land crisis.

The Commonwealth team first met Mugabe, but
there was no word yet on theoutcome of that meeting.

The mission
was due to receive a briefing from Foreign Minister Stan Mudengebefore
meeting white farmers and other interest groups, a Zimbabwegovernment
official said on Thursday.

"There is a lot of propaganda flying
around, but we still hope that theCommonwealth delegation will keep an open
mind and be fair in itsassessment," the official told
Reuters.

Mugabe's government has mixed charm with belligerence ahead
of the visit. Ithas promised to cooperate with the Commonwealth team while
at the same timeattacking white farmers who have questioned its commitment
to the dealagreed in Abuja.

"I think the Commonwealth ministers
are going to hear all the right wordsfrom the government, but I don't see
how they will get the right action,"said Masipula Sithole, a leading
political analyst.

The others are Canada's Secretary of State for Latin
America and AfricaDavid Kilgour, and former Australian High Commissioner to
Zimbabwe JoeThwaites.

LOW-LEVEL MISSION?

Analysts said
the make-up of the Commonwealth mission, which is largelycomprised of junior
ministers, was not a concern.

"I don't think there is too much to
read into the composition of thedelegation because its mission is pretty
straightforward, and, I think,within its ability," said Brian Raftopoulos, a
political analyst at theZimbabwe Institute of Development
Studies.

Harare has unleashed a flurry of verbal attacks on white
farmers forallegedly pushing a propaganda campaign aimed at showing the
government wasfailing to implement the accord.

Under the deal,
the government agreed to stop militants from violentlyseizing white-owned
farms while Britain pledged to help finance a fair andjust reform
programme.

The mainly white Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) said last
Friday the landcrisis had escalated despite the accord with settlers
occupying about 700more farms.

It warned output of key crops,
such as tobacco, wheat and maize, could fallby 40 percent next
year.

On Thursday, the state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted
government sourcesas saying the CFU was attempting to undermine the Abuja
pact and hadprepared a report aimed at "smearing" the
government.

Delegation assesses
Zimbabwe security improvementsAustralia's High Commissioner to Harare,
Jonathon Brown, is visitingZimbabwe to judge whether the Mugabe Government
has carried out its promiseto end violence and intimidation.

The
delegation, made up of a number of foreign ministers and diplomats
fromseveral Commonwealth countries, is under few illusions that major
progresshas been made.

Amnesty International says state sponsored
repression is continuing toworsen, including political killings and the
torture of oppositionsupporters.

In order to see the situation for
themselves, the delegation will holddiscussions with the Zimbabwe
Government, the Opposition, civic groups,white farmers and black farm
workers.

On Friday, they are expected to travel outside the capital
Harare and visitwhite-owned farms taken over by militant supporters of
President Mugabe.

Zimbabwe's political crisis to mar impact of 2002
budgetReutersOctober 25 2001 at 12:22PMHarare - Zimbabwe's 2002
budget to be unveiled next week is unlikely to makean impact on investor and
business confidence, which is being battered by adeepening political and
economic crisis, analysts said on Thursday.

Finance Minister Simba Makoni
will present the national budget on November 1against the background of an
economic recession now in its third year.

This has been worsened by
Zimbabwe's isolation from key donors over the pasttwo years mainly because
of President Robert Mugabe's controversial, andoften violent, land
reforms.

"It is going to be very difficult for the government to come up
with anational budget that will take the economy from the brink because a
lot hasgone wrong and the damage cannot be resolved in one year," said James
Jowa,senior economist at the Zimbabwe National Chamber of
Commerce.

"Given the bad publicity Zimbabwe has had for the greater part
of the lasttwo years it will be very difficult for any budget to restore
confidencewithout the government addressing the fundamental problems, like
the rule oflaw and the land issue," Jowa told Reuters.

Zimbabwe's
economic crisis is manifesting itself in soaring inflation,currently at a
record 86 percent, and an acute foreign currency shortage,which has severely
hit industry.

About 70 percent of Zimbabwe's population of 12.65 million
is classed aspoor in an economy analysts say will shrink by up to 10 percent
in 2001.Official estimates are for a shrinkage of 2.8 percent after a 4.2
percentcontraction in 2000.

The Zimbabwe crisis has deepened
since February 2000 when supporters ofMugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party started
invading hundreds of farms in supportof the land seizure programme in a
campaign in which nine farmers have beenkilled and scores of farm workers
assaulted.

"Without the financial support of external forces like the IMF
I don't seehow Makoni can come up with a budget that effectively deals with
perennialproblems like debt and the foreign exchange shortage," said Howard
Sithole,chief economist at Kingdom Financial Holdings.

"I for one do
not expect anything much to come out of it," Sithole added.

The IMF said
last month Zimbabwe's economy was deteriorating rapidly andthat its recovery
depends on restoring business confidence and an orderlyland reform
programme.

Critics say Mugabe's government has not adhered to a pact
brokered in Abuja,Nigeria last month in which it agreed to halt the farm
invasions in exchangefor funding from former colonial power Britain for a
fair and orderly landreform programme.

Analysts say business
confidence has been further dented by Mugabe'sreintroduction this month of
price controls on basic commodities in a bid tocushion consumers from
soaring prices.

Mugabe, who initially abandoned controls in the early
1990s when he adoptedWestern-backed economic reforms after a disastrous
10-year flirtation withsocialism, warned the government would take over
firms that close due to thecontrols.

"We will reorganise them with
the workers and at least the socialism we hadwanted can start operating,"
Mugabe said.

"I hope the budget will shed more light as to where we will
go with economicreforms because there is a lot of uncertainy in the business
sector at themoment," said Sithole on Thursday.

Mugabe denies
responsibility for Zimbabwe's economic crisis, saying it isthe result of
sabotage by his local and international opponents inretaliation for his land
seizures. - Reuters

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------HARARE
As Zimbabwe prepares for presidential elections, the government hasset
itself up for a showdown with the west in rejecting European Union
(EU)offers to send poll observers.Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge said the
government had refused the EUrequest, saying there was "poison" in it and
that Zimbabwe needed topreserve its "sovereignty" but the opposition said
the government wanted torig the ballot.

Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai said: "Itmeans they want to control
the process and the outcome. They want apredetermined outcome. I think they
want to demonstrate they don't want torun a clean election."

The EU
gave Harare until Sunday to respond to its offer to send electionobservers,
amid fears that the presidential election would be a repeat ofpolitical
violence that left at least 34 people dead before last year'sparliamentary
elections.

Harare's decision set the stage for the EU to impose sanctions
under theCotonou accords with former European colonies in Africa, the
Caribbean andsouth Pacific. The agreement says sanctions can be imposed if
high-levelpolitical talks fail to overcome human rights
differences.

"It's a bad sign and a missed opportunity for Zimbabwe to
restore goodrelations with the EU," said a western diplomat.

"If the
ministers decide to use article 96 (of the Cotonou agreement), thatmeans
there will still be 60 days of dialogue between the two parties, andif
nothing changes, sanctions will be applied." Voter registration isalready
under way for presidential polls, due before next April.

A two-strong
advance team of US observers from the International Foundationfor Election
Systems was deported from Zimbabwe last month. So far they havenot been able
to win permission to return to the country.

The possibility of EU
sanctions comes as the US congress considers a bill toimpose a travel ban on
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and freeze assetsbelonging to him and
other top officials in his party. Sapa-AFP.

A COMMONWEALTH visit to
Zimbabwe to check on the progress of an agreement torestore the rule of law
was in danger of descending into farce last nightafter it emerged that its
schedule excluded opponents of President RobertMugabe.

The delegation
is due to spend two days in the country but the programmedrawn up by the
Harare government does not include any meetings with thepolitical
opposition, or any of about 200 civil society groups.

Late last night its
officials were said by a diplomatic source to beconcerned that Mr Mugabe had
hijacked the mission and could render it"meaningless".

Professor
Brian Raftopoulos, a human rights activist at the University ofZimbabwe,
said yesterday: "This is a disgrace and if the Commonwealth agreesto a
programme organised by the government it will undermine the process
ofconsultation underlying the Commonwealth involvement with
Zimbabwe."

The Harare meeting is a follow-up to the Commonwealth
initiative in Abuja,Nigeria, last month, which was hailed as a "significant"
development insolving the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Mr Mugabe accepted the
agreement, but never publicly endorsed his commitmentto restore the rule of
law in the process of land reform, and to respecthuman rights, democracy and
press freedom.